Shooter Who Killed 9 Parishioners At Church Gets New Lawyers

CHARLESTON, SC - JULY 16: Dylan Roof (C), the suspect in the mass shooting that left nine dead in a Charleston church last month, appears in court July 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. The Associated Press, WCIV-TV and The Post and Courier of Charleston are challenging a judge's order issued last week that prohibits the release of public records in the June 17 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. (Photo by Grace Beahm-Pool/Getty Images)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A judge is granting a request for new lawyers from a man who fatally shot nine black parishioners during a church Bible study in South Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel wrote in a ruling Thursday that federal public defenders from California and Maryland will be working on Dylann Roof’s appeal of his death sentence.

Roof’s relationship with the lawyers in his federal trial has been rocky. He called them the “sneakiest group of people I have ever met” when they told them they wanted to tell a jury about his mental problems to spare his life.

Roof also threatened to kill defense attorney David Bruck.

Roof was sentenced to death in January after being found guilty of hate crimes in the June 2015 slayings at Emanuel AME church.